How It Works
Community leaders choose to implement the Protocol, providing benefits to all members and a source of income for the Community. These leaders initially set the Community Fee, a percentage charge on all services rendered by participating members. This decision can later be transferred to the community members themselves. Additionally, the Community Token is minted, which is a unique token distributed to participating members and which can be used for gamification mechanisms or community governance, depending on individual preferences.
From this point forward, community members have the option of using the tool and protocol to receive compensation for all services rendered to their clients. The use of the protocol is optional. The protocol provides a contract management and billing tool for member convenience.
To participate in the protocol, members need to pass Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) checks and establish a verified account. With ZKP, members can prove their identity and credentials without revealing personal details, ensuring a trustless and privacy-focused verification process. In this account, the member will register their crypto wallets from networks compatible with the Protocol.
The member will then initiate a Contract within the protocol, representing the provision of service agreed with a client. This Contract will reference the Contractor, the description of the service, the agreed remuneration, the payment method (single, installment, or recurring), and the Skills used in the provision of this service, with a weight being assigned to each Skill. For example, if the contract involves a Javascript back-end software developer, they can assign a weight of 100% to the Javascript skill, or they can select multiple skills (e.g., Javascript and Node.js), assigning a weight of 50% to each. This information will be essential in the hiring process and in subsequent work, and will be detailed below.
After establishing an active contract, approved by the contracting company, the member issues an invoice against the client using the Billing Tool at the time of billing for the services.
This invoice includes the service fee and the community fee. Let's say the Community Fee is 5%, a salary of $10,000 will yield a $10,500 invoice for the company to pay. That's $10,000 for the Professional and $500 for the Community.
The Skills determined by the member will be highlighted in the service description, allowing the company to validate and confirm that the skills were actually present in the provision of the services. With ZKP, professionals can prove their skills and experience without revealing specific projects or clients, ensuring a secure and efficient verification process.
The payment information will inform the cryptocurrency payment address on the network chosen by the member when issuing the invoice. The network to be used is a mutual agreement between the professional and the contracting company. Payments must be made in cryptocurrencies due to the advantages it generates for the Professional and the Community, which will be detailed below.
Upon receiving the invoice, the company makes the Payment to the provided address, an address generated by the Protocol to process the Payment.
Once a Payment is received, the Protocol automatically identifies who the payment is from, which Contract it relates to, who the hired Professional is, and which Community governs this contract.
Immediately upon receiving the funds, the protocol proceeds to distribute the payment:
- The community percentage is transferred to the treasury, typically a multisig wallet.
- The protocol usage fee, 0.5%, is transferred to the protocol's treasury.
- The remaining balance is transferred to the member who provided the services.
- The received payment amount is distributed among the Skills according to their weight in the Contract. For example, if the contract defines two skills, each carrying a weight of 50%, and the payout is $10,000, each skill will have a nominal index of $5,000.
- 50% of the face value received is distributed in Community Tokens to the member. For example, if the payout is $10,000, 5,000 community tokens will be sent to the member.
The Skills Index record, backed by ZKP, will serve as a Proof of Resume for the member. At any time, the professional can demonstrate their proficiency with specific technologies, tools, or processes as this proof is linked to the actual monetary remuneration they received for providing a service. A higher index suggests a longer professional experience in that particular skill or reflects their seniority, as seniority is intrinsically linked to the value that the professional can charge in the market. In essence, the larger the sum received, the more experienced the individual is.
Members have the ability to mint a non-fungible token (NFT) that reflects the weighted value of their Skills. This allows the community to form a ranked list of professionals based on their skills, making it easier for companies to locate the talent they require. This NFT is Soulbound, meaning it is non-transferable between wallets. The Community Fee generates revenue that goes into the community's treasury. This revenue can be used to provide various benefits to members, such as:
- A benefit club, with discounts at establishments that interest the community
- Active recruitment of companies to hire members
- Provision of training, courses, and free education for the entire community or for members who participate in the protocol
The community token can serve as an access pass to certain community services or areas. It can also function as a governance token, should the community decide to transition into a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
In a DAO scenario, members would be highly motivated to use the Protocol. In addition to gaining community benefits and having a verifiable resume, they could also gain an ownership stake in the business with voting rights in decisions related to the Community Fee income generated by the work of other members. The more a member uses the Protocol, the greater their stake in the business, effectively making them a 'larger owner' of the DAO.
The DAO token could potentially gain liquidity in the secondary market and appreciate in value as more professionals join the community and choose to receive their compensation through the Protocol. This would represent an increase in fees and subsequently increase the value stored in the Community Treasury.